


On Being A Famous Mage

by debtdoctor



Series: Fade Breakout AU [8]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Gen, Hawke Dies, Temporary Character Death, bloodmage!Hawke, post-Inquisition
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-29
Updated: 2016-04-29
Packaged: 2018-06-05 08:21:11
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 404
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6697168
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/debtdoctor/pseuds/debtdoctor
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Being an apostate means being secret. Unseen. Hawke has never felt farther removed from anonymity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	On Being A Famous Mage

It's been...  
Five years? Six?  
Seven if you count the year spent dead.

It still goes against everything they've ever known. 

The merchants tell them "It's a pleasure, Champion," and all Hawke thinks is this is another person who knows.

Another person to bring the Templars down on them.

Theoretically, they know Varric is doing the right thing. The more people who know the Champion of Kirkwall is a mage, the more people who will incite riots when Hawke gets taken into the Circle. But, if that ever happens, it'll be a matter of hours before they're made Tranquil.

Hawke had never met someone Tranquil until Kirkwall.

It's the blood magic that will get them killed. If that much gets out, and the worst happens, all folks will say is "Oh, that Champion. Such a good story, shame they turned out to be maleficar. Got what they deserved in the end."

So they stay in the Amell house, clinging to a line of disgraced nobility that has turned out too many mages to be anything else.

They smile at the people who say "Champion," like its a replacement for "Good morning, Serah," and they pretend that they aren't prepared to flee at a moment's notice.

That there's not three caches on Sundermount, one at the docks, two in the Undercity, one each at the Hanged Man, Fenris' mansion, the old clinic, and Merrill's place.

None of Hawke's friends know about more than two of them, and none of them know about the same two.

Always ready to drop everything.

_Nothing is worth more than your life._

Hawke loves Kirkwall. Loves it for being unapologetic about how awful it truly is, loves it for the smell of shit in the air and blood in the streets. Loves it for the twisting alleys, made to get lost in, and the nobles who know they're living on top of the impoverished, literally. 

And they hate it for everything it's taken from them.

So if and when one of Hawke's runners comes banging on their door, saying the Templars are on their way? When Hawke starts hearing whispers and pitying glances? When neighbours are surprised at the fact they're still around...

They'll run.

Nothing is worth more than your life.

They've run before; it's not hard. No Circle has their phylactery, and appearances aren't hard to change.

And they won't spare Kirkwall more than a bitter, backwards fondness.


End file.
